Refrigerator-door lock.



UNITED sfrnrns..A PATENT OFFICE,

ABRAHAM D. WARD, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

REFRIGERATOR-DOOR LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent. I at-Qnd Dec, 18, 1917.

Application tiled February 1; 1917. Serial No, 145,987.

To all whom it may'coneem:

Be it. known that L AaAHAu D. Waan,

acitizen ofthe United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State offCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Refrigerator- Door Locks, of which the following is a A specification.

i This invention relates to a door lock and particularly pertains to a latch for refrigerator doors and the like.

`The locks used on most refrigerator doors are so con-structed as to wedge the doors into a closed Aand sealed position. When it is desired to open the doors, however, great force must be used' to break the seal and cause the door to swing outwardly to its ,Open position. 4It is the principal object this invention to .provide a door latch.

,which will act to tightly close thedoor and Whenactuated in o reverse manner will act t0 break the seal. and 'open the door so that ,there will be no difficulty experienced in Y tightly closing the door or opening it thereiii after. l

Another object of this invention is to provide a door latchV which is formed of few parts and which maybe easily actuated by means of a single actuating lever to either open or close the door.

v"Another object of this invention' is to provide a lock of the above class which possesses a holt so constructed as to not be- -com'e wedged within the keeper and not liable'to wear either the keeper or the bolt member.

It is a further object ofthis invention to provide a lock which is decidedly strong inw *construction and which will actin Van auto? matic manner to lock and close or open and unlock a door by slight movement of a single lockin lever.

. ?.Other o jects will appear hereinafter.

operation.

The invention is illustrated, by way of f xample,' in the accompanying drawings in `rvFiguIe 1 is a view in erspective illustratthe latch in its loc ed'position upon a r'e rlgerator. r v

I`1g."2` is aview in front elevation with partsbrokenfaway tomore clearly illustrate' thelat-ch construction'and its movement of F1 3 is a view in endelevation particu- 1- tion. is formed by the kccpcr and is of a width larly illustratingr the peculiar formation of the bolt keeper.

Fig. L is a view in transverse section illust-rating the lmanner in which the operating handle is mounted within iis casing.

Referring more particularly to thc drawings, l() indicates a lock casing which is here. shown as `suhslanuiallj.' rectangular` in shape and provided with outwardly extend ing flanges., ll and l2 hy which it may he Secured todhc tace of a door iii. 'l`hc scctional'coniiguration ol thc lock housingr is channel shape forming an opcncd side or back which is adapted to hc fitted with a lback plate ll hold in place h v the housing.

`The front plate of the housing is formed with a circular here l5 which is in horizontal alincnicnt with a bore l() formed through the back plate oi the lock and in communication with a passageway 1T cxtending through the door. The two hores are provided to receivetrunnions 18 and 19 formed upon opposite .sides of the central boss oi a lock handle 20. This handle. c.'\ tends..rearwin'dly from the hoss through an opening .21 in the end of the lock housing and is there formed with a handle grip by which the lock ma)v he operated. A lock bolt Q3 is formed integral with the handle and extends in alincincnt therewith through an end openinor 2+ in the housing. This holt is of a length suiicici'itto permit it to extend across the edge ot' the door and lo engage a bolt keeper secured by screws 2G and 2T to the door post. The ond of the lock bolt 23 is provided with a'rollcr hall 2S whichallows the bolt to he actuated without. appreciable friction.

Reference being had to Fig. 3 it will be seen that` the keeper is ofpcculiar configuration land is an essential feature of the inven- As shown, an arcuate roller slot 29 approximately that 'of the diameter of the roller hall QS. This slothasI an opening 30 at its lower end, through which the ball Q8 may pass. vThe'walls of the slot leading eoY ioo

from the opening taper inwardly and up-v`` wardl'y and cause thc door to he drawn inwardly to a tightly closed Vposition as it iS locked., .The upper portion'of the keeper surrounding the throat. of the arcuate slot is formed with a horn 31 which tapers inwardly and downwardly in a manner to dcpress the ball roller 28 when closing the I door and to lead it into the slot without manipulation of the lock handle.

As a means for adjusting the sealing and locking action of the lock, an adjusting screw 32 is provided and is-here shown as extending downwardly through the upper side wallof the lock yhousing to bear against the upper face of the lock bolt. The 'bolt 23 is held' against the screw 32 by means of a leaf spring 33 which is mounted upon` a pin 34 extending outwardly from the back plate of the lock.

the roller 2 8 to movefarther into the throat of the groove 29 as the door is locked. This, as will be seen, auses the door to be drawn forcibly into its closed position'and more thoroughly 1 sealed.

In order to permit the door to be locked and unlocked from the interior of the refrigerator or room, a square pin 35 is posi.

tioncd within a socket 36 in the lock handle. This pin eXtend.-.` through the opening 17 1n the door and is tted with an actuatin han* die 37 which is secured to the end of t ie pin and upon the opposite side of the door from 'the lock, thus permitting the Alock `to vbe readily actuated from the side of the door.

Attention is'directed to the fact that the arts of this lock are reversible as in someocatlons and for some uses it would be desirable to pulldownwardly upon the-handle 20 when opening the door instead of upwardly as here shown. In this case the keeper 25 is lnverted so that its throat opening will be above the normal locked position of the bolt. In order to cause the lock bolt to properly seatV within the keeper when so inverted the adjusting screw 32 isv positioned through a threaded opening 38 inthe lower sidewall of the lock honslng and the leaf spring '33 is Inountedupon a pin 39 extend! ing from the back plate and positioned above the lock boit, .as w11] be evident.

Then the lock is mounted upon a door the back plate and lock housing are secured by i means of suitable screws .tothe face of the door and the v keeper is fastened uponthe face of the door post. The screw'32 is then' adjusted to bring thejb'olt-23 and handle 20 in substantial horizontal alinernent, afterwhich the keeper is moved vertically, due to lthe clearance afforded by the screw slots" in its bolting flange. When proper adjustment hasbeen made topermlt the door to ro erlyr seal the. screws 26 and Ware-tightengd and' the 'lock is ready for use. v directed to the fact that it is important to normally locate the keeper so that the face of the hornl will strike the center of the roller 28 substantially midway its length and thereby insure that the roller will be properlyled into the arcuate locking slot.1

When the draw of the lock is to be increased the spring 33 is re-. lieved from the lock bolt 23 and will cause Attention is a sprngadapted to be mountedf In operation the door is closed. As` it reaches its closed position the roller 28 will strike the forward downwardly taperlng face of the horn 31 and will be led down wardlyv and into the slot 29, after which the lock handle may be depressed and this will force the ball 28 along the rear face of the horn 31 to seal the door. When the door -is opened the roller will bear upon 'the face 40 of the arcuate slot and as it 1s moved downwardly itA will naturally be advanced to cause the door to partially open, thus breaking the'seal and allowing the door to be thereafter easily handled. f

It will thus be seen that the lock here provided will act in an effective manner to simultaneously lock and clamp a--door in position and when its o eration is reversed will simultaneously un ock arid-ao en the door with the use of a single lever and by a single movement.

lVhile I haveshown the preferred construction of my lock as now known to me, it will be understoodthat various changes in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claimf A 1. refrigerator door lock comprising a 'casing havingopposite screw seats-and opposite spring seats, a lock handle having a boss within the casing, ltrunnions extending from the boss forwardly and backwardly into recesses in the lcasing to pivotally mount the handle, a 4lock `bolt extending from the boss in the op ositetdirectionfromthe handle centrally b tweenfthe spring .seats and projectingffrom the casing, an `adjusting screw adapted to be mounted through either screw seat to engage the lock bolt and limit the motion of the 'bolt in one direction, -and a spring adapted to be mounted in either springseat to press the 'bolt against' the adjusting screw, the arrangement ot the'casing, ad )listing screw' and spring being suchtha't the screw and spring may be moved from one side to the other ofthe bolt to operate the bolt in either directie-nas desired and make the lockreversible.

.2, A refrigerator door lock comprising a casing adapted to be mounted against the face of a door having opposite screw seats and opposite spring'seats, a handle having a, central boss lprovided with to pivotally mount the handle, a lock; bolt extending-from the central boss between the Ascrew seats andy betweenV the 'sprin seats, a roller ball mounted upon the tipo 'tliealockg-"f bolt, a set screw adapted'toibe" adj'u'stably- 4mounted through either t l" screws the swinging of the lock'boltin one' etween the screw seats and be-v trunnions ex. 4tending both ways into recesses 1n the casing kann sa* .gramm l a Spring seat to press the lock bolt against the that the roller ball will pass the horn to the set screw, the spring and set screw being thus slot when the door is slammed shut'. and so 10 reversible to change the direction of the lock that when the roller ball is in the slot, opbolt as desired, and a bolt keeper adapted to eration of the handle will force the door 5 be mounted upon the frame of the door and closed or open as desired.

ada ted to be engaged bf the roller tip of In testirnony whereof I have signed my the lock bolt, said keeper aving an inclined name tdthis specification. horn leading to Van arcuate broiler Slot $0 A y AB D. WARD. 

